Listening to Henry Wagons sing, one could be forgiven for thinking the man had been born and raised on acid country.
His Johnny Cash croon, particularly evident on the tune ‘Moonhorn Lake’, speaks of a great musical upbringing in Americana – one that Wagons argues that he doesn’t actually have.
“When I first started playing music I was in a whole variety of bands,” Wagons says. “In particular, I was into jangly ’90s indie stuff. Everyone seemed to have these shrill, high-pitched voices, whether it be Pavement or Built to Spill. It was all pretty unapproachable for me – my voice had broken more than most and I didn’t quite know what to do with my intense puberty. So, when I rediscovered my parents’ record collection and listened to some of those outlaw country guys, Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash, I found my calling and my life’s had a strange momentum ever since.”
Momentum indeed: it’s hard to imagine that Wagons could be any busier. An icon in Australia’s alt-country/Americana scene thanks in so small part to his instantly recognisable baritone rumble, loud shirts, headbands and wild mutton-chop sideburns, Wagons has a new album out (After What I Did Last Night…, his first full-length solo release) and a much-loved weekly show on Double J (Tower Of Song). Today, at least until the babysitter arrives, he’s looking after his daughter.
“I do get knackered,” Wagons confesses. “I’ve got my toe in the shallow end of a lot of hot springs. It’s a really fun life and I’ve got absolutely no complaints about being creatively busy whatsoever. I’ve worked real jobs in my time and just every moment I can savour being able to spin my own brand of bullshit musically, I’m thankful for it.”
After What You Did Last Night… is a cracking listen, served up with a hefty side of larrikin. But given Wagons’ usual backing band The Wagons isn’t present, does it feel like he’s cheating on the lads by stepping out on his own?
“I know what you mean,” he says. “It does feel very different not playing with my own guys. The Wagons has always been an egomaniacal enterprise, but we have been together for 15 years playing more or less exclusively with one another.” There’s a pause – his self-depreciation sinks in.
“I mean, I like to think it’s a benevolent dictatorship,” he says chuckling. “I always look after my guys and think about them on the road and their welfare very much. But it is my ship to steer, although I try to make it luxuriously appointed. Though it was time for us to explore other creative horizons, at least for a little bit. I love [The Wagons] too much not to continue playing music with them into the future, but we are on a bit of a hiatus and everyone is blossoming without my spectre over them. People are releasing hip hop records and producing and doing all sorts of crazy stuff and my lead guitarist is moving to Paris. We’ll come back even stronger in a year or two, but until then I’m indulging my Nashville fantasies.”
Speaking of which, although Wagons had a blast recording over there, it turns out that the rumours are true: they do it different in Nashville. “A lot of music that comes from Melbourne and Australia develops through booze and friendship and organically and slowly over time,” Wagons explains. “Nashville isn’t like that – it’s like sitting down with a few grand architects and constructing something epic then and there. It’s a very different process. In one sense it’s more clinical, but in another it’s an incredibly thrilling roller coaster.”
Another conversation is soon broached, but Wagons’ typical self-deprecation continues – in another interview he said that he “weirded up the joint” during his Nashville sojourn. Given the pill poppin’ exploits of some of country’s finest, what on earth could he have done to wig them out so much?
“Nashville has got a lot broader over the past decade, but predominantly the people who come to record in Nashville are straighter country than I am,” he explains. “Even though there’s a lot of amazing underground rock bands forming and punk going on there, that’s more in the band scene than in terms of the songwriters who show up and play with session musicians. They’re a little more used to traditional country forms and themes than mine, so I felt like having a bit of an Australian sensibility threw them all a curve ball and it was kind of exciting to see their faces puzzling.”
Wagons laughs, and kicks into high storyteller mode – there’s a reason why this man is on the radio, after all. “There was this one particular segment in a bridge for my song ‘Melbourne’, which is kind of like a Kink-sy move where I minor to major and pluck out this little pause – everyone looked incredibly bamboozled by what I thought was just a normal little trick. They all liked it and thought it was strange. It was a cultural translation thing.
“Besides that, in general whether it be in Australia or America I tend to weird up joints anyway. Maybe it’s nothing to do with Nashville at all.”
[Henry Wagon photo by Taylor Wong]
Henry Wagons performs at Mullum Music Festival, running Thursday November 17 – Sunday November 20, in Mullumbimby.
